


Let's See How Far We've Come

by metaphasia



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 20:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5469818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphasia/pseuds/metaphasia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The old stories always end with a final battle, and then everything ends happily ever after. But growing up on the Isle of the Lost, Mal knows that stories don't truly end that simply. After the coronation, Mal picks up the pieces of her life and figures out what her future looks like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's See How Far We've Come

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperclipbitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperclipbitch/gifts).



Of all the things that were different about life in Auradon, summer vacation was possibly the one that took the most getting used to. The barrier that kept magic off of the Isle of the Lost had also caused most electronics and advanced technology to fry shortly after arriving and had moderated the weather, causing life there to be much the same from one day to the next. And without schools or birthday celebrations (or, really, any parties at all), it had meant that childhood there was a fairly consistent, interminable experience. Lessons consisted of how to lie, and cheat, and steal, playing consisted of violence and running. The idea of vacations, and having nothing to do for several months was at once more similar to how life had been on the island and the most unusual thing that Mal and the others had ever experienced.  
None of the four had any particular desire to return to the island for the summer after the fiasco that had been the coronation; even though it had ended well enough, they knew that the other islanders and especially their parents wouldn't be too understanding. So when Ben mentioned that his parents vacationed at a castle near the beach every summer and allowed him to invite a number of his friends over and offered them to spend the summer there, they jumped at the chance.

The first day Mal went with Carlos to walk Dude north along the beach. It wasn't until they got to the very north end of the beach, where the sand slowly disappeared under driftwood and into the forest, that they were able to see the Isle when they looked up. The rest of the summer, Carlos took Dude for walks south along the beach.

The next day, Mal hung out with Evie. The two of them had always been close growing up on the island. They had both been raised by two of the most powerful villains, and raised to be queens by their mothers. As a result, they had never had many friends growing up on the island (not that anyone did), and had become the next best thing to sisters that either of them had ever had. Although they didn't always have the same interests; Evie was more into fashion and boys, while Mal preferred learning magic, and, when she had the supplies and privacy, drawing. Despite their differences, the two girls had gotten in the habit of hanging out together, and their rooming together at Auradon Prep had reinforced their habit of girl time, so when unleashed in a castle, the two had found a room off in an unused wing and spent the day together catching up.

Although Ben had been crowned king, his father was still doing much of the actual ruling while Ben was still in school. However, they were gradually transitioning the responsibilities over, so that when he graduated, Ben would be prepared to assume the full duties of the king. He was still able to hang out with the other students for most of the summer, but had to attend meetings with the various councils and guilds as well, to prepare for his future role. In the middle of the week, he invited Mal to sit in with him when he had a full day of meetings scheduled. Mal didn't talk much, since, technically, she had no official title. But as Ben's girlfriend and the potential future queen, as well as the woman who had faced down Maleficent and saved the kingdom a few weeks earlier, as well as one of the most powerful sorceresses in the lands, her thoughts did gather respect when she voiced her opinions.

Jay had spent the entire week hanging out at the volleyball court. Mal joined him the next day and the two dominated all comers together. Finally, at the end of the day, when the challengers had started to dwindle off, Ben showed up at the beach and Mal switched to partner up with him. The resultant match was by far the most intense of the entire day, but eventually Mal and her boyfriend were able to edge out Jay and Lonnie for the victory.

After the events of the coronation, Mal had sat down with Jane to teach her about how to use magic, and how to do so responsibly. Although the shield around the Isle of the Lost had prevented all but the most basic of magics from being used, such as the Battle of Wills that her mother invoked with regularity, those who could use it were still respected and feared, both for what little power it represented on the island, as well as power it would represent if they ever escaped from the prison. Maleficent had been loathe to share that source of her power with anyone, but had made an exception for her daughter. Mal had taken to the lessons with vigor, both because of the power and respect that it granted her, and because she found she had a natural gift for it. When she had gotten to the school, she had been excited at the chance to finally put to use what until then had been theoretical, and the rush of energy coursing through her whenever she cast a spell made her love the magic even more. No one had ever taught Jane how to harness that ability, and how to use it wisely, and Mal wanted to share her passion with the other girl and teach her so that her talents wouldn't go to waste either.

Mal never would have guessed that she would have been the one of the four from the Isle to have the most trouble fitting in. Well, fitting in was not the right phrase; Mal had no trouble walking up to any social group and inserting herself into their activities without any problems. It was the sense of belonging that she lacked, knowing that when she was with a group that it was the right place for her to be.

It was a few weeks into the summer when Mal found herself sitting around an empty room in the castle, drawing the view from the westward facing window. She was having girl time with Evie again, and this time Lonnie was sitting in as well. The other two girls had started to hang out more and more frequently, as Mal found herself drifting around. While Mal was carefully filling in details on the paper in front of her, Evie was working on measuring and making alterations to a dress that she had designed and Lonnie was modeling. The three talked about everything, and the topic eventually drifted to their dating lives. Evie and Lonnie were both single, and wanted to hear all the details about Mal's relationship with Ben. Mal had been happy enough to satisfy their vicarious questions, until they started asking about her first date, and how she and Ben fell in love.  
"He and I still have to have a conversation about that at some point," Mal commented casually.  
"Conversation about what?" Ben asked, and Mal started slightly, not having noticed him walking up behind her.  
Mal narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide if it was a good time to bring it up. "The fact that you keep telling everyone how romantic it was how I got your attention, when really I slipped you magical roofies," she eventually said. "You should be furious with me for that, not thinking it's something from a fairy tale."  
"Do you remember what happened after I found out?" he asked her.  
"What, the whole coronation thing, or the part where my mother crashed the ceremony and almost murdered everyone there?" Mal asked, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.  
"No, that carriage ride was when you found out I knew. I found out on our first date, back at the lake, when I first dove into the water," Ben started to explain. "And I was furious with you, for about a minute or so. But then, I decided I needed to clear my head and dove down to the bottom of the lake, and that was when I noticed you floundering around up on the surface. And when I pulled you out of the water and you were safely back on dry land, you started freaking out about how worried you were for my safety, that you thought something had happened to me, and how you had never learned how to swim because of the barrier around the Isle of the Lost. I realized that anyone who was willing to dive into a lake to try and save my life when they didn't know how to swim themselves had to be a good person, and while it may have been an unusual way to try to get my attention, you didn't do it with malice in your heart."

It was the last day of summer that Mal finally took a day to herself. She had been with a different group of people every day for the entire break, and had never stopped to look around for herself. She put on her boots and began walking up the beach, thinking about everything that had happened over the last few months. She never would have guessed that this is how her life would have turned out; it all still felt like a dream to her. It took several hours, but when she reached the edge of the beach, she sat on a piece of driftwood, looking north. She would not have believed that she would be here, looking at the barrier surrounding the Isle of the Lost from this side. She had sometimes wandered to the deserted edges of the Isle, and looked out at the rest of Auradon, dreaming about someday getting off the island and seeing the world. She had never expected it to come true.  
She was startled from her thoughts by a sudden crunching sound behind her, someone stepping on a branch as they walked up the beach. She stood and looked to see who was approaching her. In the entire summer, she had never heard anyone talk about coming up here intentionally, never seen anyone walk in this direction aside from the first day when she and Carlos had gone exploring.  
She locked eyes with the person approaching, and it was hard to tell who was more surprised to see another person in this deserted corner of the kingdom, herself or Ben.  
Ben smiled wide when he realized she was there, and began picking his way through the piles of logs over to where she was sitting.  
"I should have realized you would find my little hideaway," he said, as he worked his way to her.  
"Your hideaway?," she asked, teasingly, "Seeing as how I was here first, and no one has come up here all summer, I think it counts as mine."  
"Well, I may not have come up here this summer," Ben said, sitting down next to her, looking out over the water. "But I have been coming up here every year that we've been vacationing here. The truth is, I never really felt like I belonged with the others. I always knew that I would have to be king someday, and while I never regretted it, it did mean that there was always a bit of distance between me and the other kids. I always felt like I was on the outside. That's why I would sneak out and come up here sometimes over the summers, so I could be alone."  
Ben nudged her shoulder, before continuing. "You want to know a secret? This is actually where I got the idea to invite you and the other kids from the Isle to the academy, seeing the island from here."  
Mal simply smiled, and nudged him back, falling into a companionable silence. Later, they would walk back down the beach and to the end of summer bonfire. For now though, they would sit here, alone, together.  
Maybe she had found the place she belonged after all.


End file.
